MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Closer ties between China and the Development Bank of Latin America

CAF CEO Ugarte said he thinks BRI has “a clear ambition to create opportunities for the strategic integration between China and Latin America and the Caribbean”

The head of a top Latin American financial institution believes China's Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI, could help inject new dynamism into the world economy, as well as generate new ideas to foster more connectivity between Asia and Latin America. Luis Carranza Ugarte, executive president and CEO of CAF－Development Bank of Latin America－is attending the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing this week.

In an interview ahead of his visit, Ugarte told China Daily he thinks the BRI has “a clear ambition to create opportunities for the strategic integration between China and Latin America and the Caribbean, and the world as a whole”.

“We wish to witness and celebrate with the world the rapid progress of the Belt and Road Initiative, achieving a win-win cooperative relationship based on mutual benefits for our peoples,” he said.

Created in 1970, CAF is a development bank owned by 19 countries－17 Latin American and Caribbean nations with Spain and Portugal－as well as 13 private regional banks.

With its headquarters in Caracas, Venezuela, CAF supports sustainable development and integration within Latin America by financing infrastructure projects, fostering foreign investment and supporting small-and medium-sized enterprises, according to Ugarte.

Ugarte said that CAF “deeply embraces the peaceful, cooperative, inclusive and mutual learning spirit that BRI is rooted in”.He said, “Unlike the existing patterns of South-South and North-South cooperation, BRI brings together development demands of both developing and developed countries.”

Ugarte said CAF also aims to promote a stronger relationship between Latin America and Asia. “We are creating new partnerships,” said Ugarte. “Over the past 10 years, we have set a record in Latin American bond emissions in Asian capital markets amounting to US$ 1.9 billion.”

Ugarte said CAF and China have built “an effective partnership to support the exchange of best practices as well as trade and investment in key sectors of development”.

Over the past decade, the total amount awarded to Chinese companies in public bidding projects financed by CAF was US$ 1.2 billion. These were mainly in the energy and transport sectors.